Lily Allen will play her headline-grabbing new album West End Girl in full on a run of 2026 tour dates. The British pop star will perform her fifth album front to back in a series of theatrical venues around the UK next March.
West End Girl appears to tell the story of the dissolution of Allen’s marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour in chronological order, from her accepting an open relationship against her wishes to finding that the agreed terms have been flouted – although Allen told British Vogue that while it was inspired by her marriage, “that’s not to say it’s all gospel”. The couple are believed to have split at the end of 2024.
The album has received widespread acclaim, including a five-star review from the Independent and four stars from the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis, who praised its “boldness and the quality of its songwriting”.
The apparent disclosures – whether poetic licence or otherwise – have generated headlines since the album’s surprise release on 24 October. The woman known on the album as Madeline – a Jolene-style figure – has apparently revealed herself to the Mail on Sunday. The New York City brownstone apartment where Allen and Harbour lived – which they once revealed on an Architectural Digest video – is on the market.
In new interviews, Allen discussed how difficult dating had been after the dissolution of her second marriage and admitted that she had been banned from dating app Hinge on suspicion of being a Lily Allen impersonator.
Three songs from West End Girl (the maximum possible from an album) are expected to chart in the UK Top 40 tomorrow: in the midweek charts, Pussy Palace was at no 17, the title track at 18 and Madeline at 29. The album was at No 4 in the midweeks, a position partly powered by – the now relatively arcane – mp3 downloads.
Tickets go on sale at 10am GMT on 7 November.
Tour dates
2 March Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
3 March Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
5 March Birmingham Symphony Hall
7 March Sheffield City Hall
8 March Newcastle O2 City Hall
10 and 11 March Manchester Aviva Studios
14 March Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
15 March Cambridge Corn Exchange
17 March Bristol Beacon
18 March Cardiff New Theatre
20 and 21 March London Palladium
